Block footwork along the net

Two ways of getting along the net in one round: the shuffle for the short distance and the crossover for the long one. No ball is involved, so all you have to watch is the feet and the hands. A player who mixes the two up arrives either late or off balance.

1 player 7 phases ± 10 min Half court with a net, no balls From U15 upwards

Phase 1 of 7Start at position 3, hands high at the net

Blocker Ball

This animation comes straight out of the Koach app. In the app you play it at your own pace and the positions carry your players' real names.

Open in the app

How the drill runs

What you are training

Shuffle (short) and crossover (long) along the net with a block jump; hands high, shoulders square.

The choice between shuffle and crossover: short moves without turning the shoulders, long moves with the turn.
Hands that stay above shoulder height for the whole round, including while moving.
Finishing every jump straight up, so you land where you took off.

Coaching points

Your hands stay above your shoulders, including while you shuffle.

A player who lets his arms drop has to swing them back up on the way. That costs a tenth of a second and produces exactly the net touches you see in matches.

Shuffle up to about a meter, use the crossover beyond that.

Shuffling over a longer distance keeps the steps short and makes the last one too small — you then take off while your weight is still moving sideways.

Finish the crossover with your feet parallel to the net.

If you take off with your feet still angled, you drift into the net during the jump, or past the hitter instead of squarely in front of him.

Land on the same spot where you took off.

Jumping away sideways is the most common cause of a sprained ankle on a fellow blocker's foot, and it pulls your block apart by a whole gap.

Variations

Easier: Leave the jump out and just run the pattern: shuffle one way, crossover back. The jump gets added only once the feet are right.
Harder: You only call where the jump goes once the player is already moving, so he has to switch from shuffle to crossover halfway.
With six players: Three at a time along the net, a meter apart, timing their jump with each other without talking. The other three watch and tally the net touches.
As a game: Four jumps per round, two rounds per player. Every net touch and every landing away from the take-off spot costs a point; the lowest score wins.

Volleyball drills

4 players · 6 phases SafeVolley base round Warm-up 3 players · 5 phases Shoulder activation with band Warm-up 2 players · 6 phases Dynamic movement patterns Warm-up 5 players · 5 phases Core plank with rotation Warm-up

Read on in the knowledge base: footwork, timing and hands at the block · more blocking drills for your middles · learning to land safely after a block jump